While you may have completed the most difficult tasks in this workbook, you still are faced
with the tough task of "selling" your system to the general public. Don't forget, they are
used to the conventional call centers (e.g., 4-1-1 and 9-1-1) and may be resistant to change.
In addition to educating the public, you also have to train the people you will be employing
in your system. Finally, you will need to test your coordinated system to determine its
functionality and to identify gaps or areas for improvement.
educate your community
about your
coordinated call center system
Educating your community about your coordinated call center system should begin early in the developmental stages of the system and continue throughout until the completion of the system and even afterward. As mentioned in the previous section, the news media is the best tool for educating the public because they have the power to reach more people and they can do so quickly. In addition to the media, there are other options for educating the public, such as billboards, mail- outs, and public meetings. Your liaison in your community's Joint Information Center (JIC) should be able to take the lead in determining how to educate your community on your coordinated call center system.
The aspects of your coordinated call center system on which your community should be educated are:
• Why are we doing this? Provide the "big picture" of the impact of an influenza pandemic
on your community and its call centers. This education will provide the foundation for the expectations that you will place on them during the activation of your coordinated call center system.
• How are you going to do it? Explain the existing call centers and resources that you are
going to tap into to develop the coordinated system.
• What is it? How does it work? Explain the scope and operational aspects of your system
to your community so that they can gain understanding of the system and, perhaps, become comfortable with it.
• How is it different from what we are using today? Explain how a coordinated call center
system differs from the individually operating call centers that are used under normal circumstances.
• When will it be activated? Explain the "triggers" that will activate the system.
• What is expected of the public? Lay out what is expected of the public. Tell them, "In the
event of an influenza pandemic, you will be expected to ___." so that they are prepared for the time when the system gets activated. Examples of expectations are:
- Call _____ instead of 9-1-1.
- Call our telephone triage/nurse advice line at _____ if you are feeling ill - Dial _____ for assistance/information.
- Monitor media outlets for information updates.
- Go to your designated Point of Distribution (POD) for medicine instead of a healthcare facility.
Within your community, there are public education plans for public health emergencies that have already been developed. Your JIC liaison should determine what plans exist and should incorporate education about your coordinated call center system into these plans.
Integrate public education about your coordinated call center system into existing public education plans
Note: This task will be accomplished outside of the framework of this workbook (i.e., without a worksheet).
task 5.1
train those involved
in your system
One of the needs for those involved in your coordinated call center system is adequate training. Preferably, this training should be provided prior to a public health emergency, such as an influenza pandemic. When considering and developing training for your coordinated call center personnel, ask yourself the following questions:
• What is the scope of the training? This question answers why training is needed. There
are several areas where your staff—particularly volunteer staff—will need training: triaging the call, triaging the caller, disseminating information, learning new technology (both hardware and software), learning the configurations of other call centers in the coordinated system, learning the objectives of the overall system, and getting educated on pandemic influenza.
• Who is going to provide this training? You need to identify subject matter experts who
can develop the training modules on the various areas identified above.
• When will you train your staff? Ideally, you want to provide your training prior to an
event; however, there may be some cases where that will not be possible which will require just-in-time (JIT) training. Therefore, you will need to develop JIT training modules for these instances.
• How long will it take to train them? The length of time it takes to train staff has a bearing
on training costs and the willingness of personnel to undertake the training.
• How will your staff be trained? In today's world of ever evolving technologies, in addition
to the standard classroom training, there are a number of ways that you can train your staff: computer-based training, web-based training, and training through a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a mobile telephone. In addition to the subject matter experts needed to develop training modules, you will need technical experts to develop these technology- based training systems.
At this point, your task will be to (1) identify where training is needed, (2) delegate responsibility for developing and conducting this training to your team members, and (3) determine when this training will take place. How those involved in your system will be trained will be determined outside of the framework of this workbook.
Identify training needs for those involved in your system and delegate responsibility for developing and conducting this training.
An additional copy of this worksheet is located in the back of this workbook.